Minute Pieces Research Articles

Mutable Bodies: Abstraction and Modern Dance in 1960s Argentina

A frontal shot of a slowly moving, faceless body rising vertically from the floor as it forms a triangle with legs and arms opens the first known work of video dance in Argentina. The 10.25 minute piece was filmed on black-and-white 16 mm stock by Argentine filmmaker Marcelo Epstein in 1969, and features experimental dancer and choreographer Ana Kamien. As the initially dark frame becomes illuminated, the dancer appears immersed in a black scenery, which contrasts sharply with the contours of the white leotard that covers her body. Her horizontally extended legs form the base for a torso that moves back and forth, side to side, accompanied by tensely symmetrical arms that fold and extend, depart from the core and return to it, leaving the fingers of each hand reaching to the outside (Fig. 1). Sixteen seconds into the dance, a woman begins to read a poem as...

I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME?

Lois Brown attended VIBE International Symposium at Concordia University, November 30 - December 2, 2018, where she performed a twenty-minute solo version of I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME? This performance was based on a 70 minute piece also titled I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME? created by Lois Brown and composed by James O’Callaghan.
 Trailer: https://vimeo.com/289326915

EFFECT OF BOILING AND MICROWAVE COOKING ON NUTRITIONAL, ANTI-NUTRITIONAL AND TOXICITY OF WILD EDIBLE PLANTS OF NORTH-EASTERN REGION IN INDIA

Objective: The target of this appraisal was to explore the impacts of various cooking techniques, for example, boiling and microwave cooking on nutritional, antinutritional, minerals content and in vitro toxicity of ten wild consumable plants viz. Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, Viburnum foetidum, Houttuynia cordata, Sonchus arvensis, Oenanthe linearis, Perilla ocymoides, Clerodendrum colebrookeanum, Solanum gilo, Solanum kurzii, Potentilla lineata, widely consumed by the common individuals of North-Eastern area in India.
 Methods: The proximate parameters like ash, moisture, protein, fat, fibre, carbohydrate, energy content, minerals viz. sodium, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc and antinutritional parameters like oxalate, phytate, tannin, saponin, cyanogenic glycoside content were evaluated in the selected wild edible plants using standard food analysis techniques. In vitro haemolytic toxicity of aqueous extracts (100, 300 and 500µg/cc) of ten palatable wild plants was done with the blood samples were gathered from healthy rat, mixed with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(EDTA) and centrifuged at 5,000 Revolutions Per Minute (rpm) for five minutes. The 10 % erythrocyte suspension was set up in sterile Phosphate buffer saline (PBS, pH 7.4) for haemolytic examination. The genotoxic potential of the concentrates were assessed by a single-cell gel electrophoresis comet test. Cytotoxicity studies were evaluated with fresh goat livers procured from the local market were perfused in PBS (pH 7.4) with collagenase and the liver was then minced in minute pieces and cells were isolated utilizing cell strainer.
 Results: Both cooking medications diminished the congregations of ash, fat, minerals, antinutritional parts and the destructive nature of the consumable plants while the carbohydrate and fiber substance were expanded. The protein focuses in the wild edibles were expanded fundamentally (P<0.05) in the range from 1.26 to 10.45% on microwave cooking while the indistinguishable were exhausted in the range out of 2.20 to11.55% on boiling treatment. The microwave cooking demonstrated lesser misfortunes in minerals in the consumable plants than those cooked by frothing. The microwave cooking also caused the colossal rot (P<0.05) of antinutritional parameters and damaging tendency to a more significant degree than the sputtering medications of the wild edibles.
 Conclusion: Therefore, the outcomes uncovered that microwaving of appealing plants could be prescribed to expand the supporting quality and to diminish the fat, threatening to dietary structure and lethality. The toxicity assessment of the consumable plants at cell and genomic level showed that these are harmless to consume.

Epicardial transplantation of atrial appendage micrograft patch salvages myocardium after infarction

Ischemic heart disease remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide despite improved possibilities in medical care. Alongside interventional therapies, such as coronary artery bypass grafting, adjuvant tissue-engineered and cell-based treatments can provide regenerative improvement. Unfortunately, most of these advanced approaches require multiple lengthy and costly preparation stages without delivering significant clinical benefits. We evaluated the effect of epicardially delivered minute pieces of atrial appendage tissue material, defined as atrial appendage micrografts (AAMs), in a mouse myocardial infarction model. An extracellular matrix patch was used to cover and fix the AAMs onto the surface of the infarcted heart. The matrix-covered AAMs salvaged the heart from the infarction-induced loss of functional myocardium and attenuated scarring. Site-selective proteomics of injured ischemic and uninjured distal myocardium from AAMs-treated and -untreated tissue sections revealed increased expression of several cardiac regeneration-associated proteins (i.e., periostin, transglutaminases, and glutathione peroxidases) and activation of pathways responsible for angiogenesis and cardiogenesis in relation to AAMs therapy. Epicardial delivery of AAMs encased in an extracellular matrix patch scaffold salvages functional cardiac tissue from ischemic injury and restricts fibrosis after myocardial infarction. Our results support the use of AAMs as tissue-based therapy adjuvants for salvaging the ischemic myocardium.

Intrapartum temporary inferior vena cava filters are rarely indicated in pregnant women with deep venous thromboses.

We previously demonstrated the usefulness of temporary inferior vena cava filters (t-IVCFs) to prevent pulmonary thromboembolism in pregnant women with deep venous thrombosis (DVT). However, there is currently no consensus on the indications for intrapartum t-IVCF in pregnant women with DVT. In this study, we re-evaluated the safety and usefulness of t-IVCF inserted in this condition. A retrospective evaluation in a single center was performed of 45 Japanese patients (54 pregnancies) with DVT between 1989 and 2014. Intrapartum t-IVCF insertion was indicated in patients who had or might have had extensive DVT located in iliofemoral veins and who had floating thrombi in the veins of their lower limbs. Eighteen patients (40%) had thrombophilias. Onset of DVT and delivery occurred at 17 ± 9 weeks and 37 ± 2 weeks of gestation, respectively. Twenty pregnant women underwent placement of an intrapartum t-IVCF. All t-IVCFs were successfully placed in the suprarenal inferior vena cava before delivery. Filter-related complications occurred in two cases (10%). One was an allergic reaction to the lidocaine used at the insertion, and another was dislocation of the t-IVCF to the right atrium. The t-IVCFs were placed for more acute DVT compared with the 34 pregnancies without t-IVCF; the onset of DVT with t-IVCF was significantly later (22 vs 12 weeks; P = .002), and the duration of unfractionated heparin therapy was significantly shorter (16 vs 28 weeks; P < .001). There was no case of clinical pulmonary embolism in the perinatal period. Thrombus was detected macroscopically at the removed t-IVCF in 15 cases; however, almost all were minute pieces. In only one case with protein S deficiency and placental abruption was a large thrombus captured in the t-IVCF, which was considered to have prevented a clinically relevant pulmonary embolus. Placement of a t-IVCF appears to be safe for pregnant women. However, intrapartum t-IVCF insertion is considered to be unnecessary for pregnant women with DVT who have received anticoagulation therapy at early onset of gestation and long term before delivery. Patients with thrombophilia and at high risk of hemorrhage may represent a subgroup of women who would benefit from t-IVCF placement, but larger prospective multicenter evaluations are required to establish that fact.

Magnet assisted retrieval of metallic foreign body from ring finger of a child.

Penetrating or piercing injuries are not uncommon in paediatric age with considerable disability if neglected or manged in a suboptimal way. Both metallic or non metallic objects have been associated with various types of penetrating injuries. Many a times certain broken piece of the object is retained and later becomes painful and equally difficult to remove. Very minute pieces or splinters of metallic objects can be successfuly retrived with the help of magnet to assist in the process. We describe our successful experience with the same idea implemented while removing a small splinters of needle from a slender digits of a toddler.

Beirut

For over thirty years now, Mr Abdel Halim Hicham has run a shop in the heart of Beirut's upmarket district of Hamra. On sale here is the woodwork inlaid with mother of pearl that he crafts by hand. Mr Hicham is a Lebanese artisan of a kind that is on the wane. He learned the trade at his father's knee and began work at the age of twelve. His is a family business, inherited through bloodline and Mr Hicham has a lifetime's knowledge of wood carving, of how to chisel the motehr of pearl into delicate, translucent shapes from broken bits of shell and how to inlay it carefully, in designs that are sometimes geometric and traditional, other times more flowing and dynamic. With utmost care, and slow precision, as if unaware of the passage of time, he glues each minute piece into the fragrant cedar wood of his country. Customers must wait until he is done. In fact, his show has more the air of a workshop, cluttered and used, the pieces of furniture, wall hangings and tabletops chaotically piled one on top of another. Some have collected dust and appear untouched for months. Others he polishes lovingly with a dirty rag dipped in turpentine. Mr Hicham keeps erratic hours. Often his shop is not open and potential customers can only peer in through the smudged window at the piles of inlaid woodwork inside. A handwritten message on the door cryptically says 'Call me', followed by a mobile number.

Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino (review)

Reviewed by: Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino John Holland Salvatore Sciarrino. Luci mie traditrici. DVD. Marco Angius/Ensemble Algoritmo. With Nina Tarandek, Christian Miedl, Roland Schneider, Simon Bode. Leipzig: EuroArts, 2010, 2012. 2059038. $24.99. Salvatore Sciarrino is considered one of the top names in contemporary European music, although his work does not appear to have garnered much of a following in North America. Born in 1947, he is a self-taught modernist who came under the influence of Luigi Nono, and went on to further study at Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Sciarrino’s musical language is un-apologetically avant-garde, and is described in Wikipedia as containing “isolated sonorities, extended playing techniques, frequent silences, and ironic or confrontational quotation of previous music.” This is an accurate description of what is on hand here. His extensive catalogue leans heavily towards chamber music, but he has written 15 stage works, of which Luci mie traditrici is the eighth. Luci mie traditrici had its first performance at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1998. Subsequent productions appeared in 2003, in 2008 at the Salzburg Festival, and in 2010 at the Berlin Festival of Contemporary Music. The production presented here on DVD was recorded during the 2010 Festival of Contemporary Art in Montepulciano, a festival established by Hans Werner Henze in which all artists donate their services. The libretto by the composer, adapted from a seventeenth century Italian play, was inspired by composer Carlo Gesualdo’s murder of his wife and her lover. Rather than draw on Gesualdo’s music, Sciarrino has taken a madrigal by Claude Le Jeune as his musical inspiration. The Le Jeune piece is used as the basis for three intermezzi [End Page 611] which divide the scenes of this 70 minute piece, first in a fairly straightforward transcription, then deconstructed for its later appearances. The vocal writing is declamatory, frequently requiring the singers to crescendo rapidly and then glissando into a sort of Sprechstimme. There is virtually no traditional singing for any of the four soloists. The small orchestra likewise relies on extended techniques, outside of the intermezzi, providing something closer to cinematic sound effects. Sciarrino has declared that this performance is definitive and a point of reference for any subsequent performances. Without a score or any other productions on video, one has to take his word for it. Indeed, the performances are staggering. This has to be extremely difficult music to perform, let alone memorize, and the singers – all young artists from the Frankfurt Opera, which is cited as a co-producer of this production - seem to be at ease with it and only rarely can be seen looking to the conductor for guidance. The DVD includes a “making of ” documentary that shows the rehearsal process and provides essential commentary from the composer and performers. As one might expect, the technical quality is excellent. Luci mie traditrici is difficult and demanding listening, and is not going to appeal to everyone. It is a far cry from the accessible literary and/or tabloid adaptations which dominate the field of new operas in this country, but it is a worthwhile addition to collections with an interest in contemporary music. John Holland Chicago Public Library Copyright © 2013 Music Library Association, Inc

Does Carbon Black Disaggregate in Lung Fluid? A Critical Assessment

Carbon black is an industrially produced particulate form of nearly pure elemental carbon. The basic building blocks of carbon black are (1) primary particles, minute pieces of matter with defined physical boundaries; (2) aggregates, collections of strongly bound or fused particles; and (3) agglomerates, collections of weakly bound aggregates. Industrial carbon black is produced within a closed reactor where the primary particles form aggregates, which become the indivisible entities of carbon black. These aggregates then form agglomerates, which are the typical form of carbon black in commerce. Carbon black is often used in in vitro and in vivo particle toxicology investigations as a reference nanoparticle. The toxicology studies often report the sizes of the primary particles but rarely the sizes of the aggregates or agglomerates. It appears in many cases that there is a limited understanding of the fact that carbon black typically does not exist as primary particles but instead exists as aggregates and agglomerates. Moreover, many toxicology studies manipulate carbon black particles in order to disperse them so that the form of carbon black used in these toxicology studies may be substantially different from the form that may be encountered in the workplace environment. Since the main exposure route for carbon black is inhalation, the question arose as to whether inhaled carbon black may deagglomerate or disaggregate to either smaller aggregates or primary particles when in contact with lung fluids. This question relates to the concern that there may be additional hazards of smaller particles, such as their ability to translocate to tissues and organs beyond the lung and the ability to pass through the blood-brain barrier. The purpose of this assessment is to review the existing literature for evidence as to whether carbon black deagglomerates or disaggregates into smaller aggregates or primary particles when in contact with lung fluid. On the basis of a review of the physical characteristics of commercial carbon black and various toxicology studies, it appears that commercially produced carbon black in contact with lung fluid is unlikely to deagglomerate or disaggregate into smaller aggregates or primary particles.

Implementing Best Practice in Dementia Care: the Role of Electronic Learning Resources in Developing Sustainable Practice.

Evidence to support the utility of dementia friendly environments, underpinned by a person-centred philosophy of care has developed over time. Nevertheless, many facilities struggle with the necessary culture change to move from a task-oriented to a person-centred approach of dementia care. Educating the numbers of staff needed to facilitate culture change, especially in rural locations, is a key issue because if all staff are not in someway involved, then sustained and enduring change is unlikely. However, educational research shows us that human beings need regular, frequent repetition of information in order to learn it, adopt and sustain change. Post training support is essential to facilitate the sustained adoption of new workplace care actions. This paper reports on a unique educational component of a project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Encouraging Best Practice in Residential Aged Care program. The aim of the overall project is to develop implementation strategies to address behaviours of concern by creating dementia friendly environments in seven rural residential aged care facilities in Victoria, Australia. This presentation focuses on the development and implementation of ‘micro-training’ to support the translation of knowledge into practice as part of routine work schedules. Micro-training has been specifically developed to address issues of sustainability following education. The purpose of the micro-training is to provide daily contact with the core ideas of best practice in person-centred dementia care. Designed to be used in small group opportunities such as shift change/handovers, micro-training is a one minute piece of video followed by a question for the group to answer in discussion for about another minute or two. The e-resource comprises 20 one minute video presentations, each one a message linked to principles of person-centred dementia care to address behaviours of concern. Results indicate that even poorly resourced rural residential care facilities can benefit from micro-training in supporting the introduction of evidence-based practice. The micro-training approach is a simple approach to promoting shared values to implement and sustain best practice. The value of linking messages to key quality and accreditation documents is important.

Surface Modification of a Quartz Crystal Oscillation Unit with DNA for Application to Detection of Specific Fungus

A quartz crystal oscillation unit was modified by immobilizing single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) on its surface and incorporated into a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) system as a biosensor for the purpose of detecting specific fungus. The ssDNA having base sequence specific to 28S rDNA D2 domain of Omphalotus guepiniformis, which is a toadstool that often causes a false appetite resulting in poisoning, was immobilized on a gold electrode of the quartz crystal unit, and used as a probe for detection of complementary target DNA. The detection of target DNA was carried out by monitoring the decrease in oscillation frequency due to mass increase on the surface of the quartz crystal unit, which accompanied the hybridization of the probe and target DNAs to form double strands. In advance, the DNA hybridization was examined by the QCM method with a synthesized oligonucleotide (25 bases) having same sequence as that specific to O. guepiniformis 28S rDNA D2 domain, and the hybridization efficiency was estimated to be 97-101%. Subsequently, DNA was extracted from a minute piece (0.1 g) of O. guepiniformis fruit body, and the 28S rDNA D2 fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It was confirmed that fragment (308 bases) of the PCR product was detected by the QCM measurement which showed a marked decrease in oscillation frequency. In addition, the 28S rDNA D2 fragment of O. guepiniformis was detected for a mixture with those of Lentinus edodes and Pleurotus ostreatus. This result suggests that the DNA-modified quartz crystal unit can be applied to the detection of a specific toadstool included in leftover foods or vomited matter.

Acoustic matching material, method of manufacture thereof, and ultrasonic transmitter using acoustic matching material

An acoustic matching material (1) is used to match the acoustic impedance of a first object to that of a sound object when sound is transmitted from the first object to the second object. The acoustic matching material (1) includes a plurality of minute pieces (2), at least one of which is coupled to another piece (2) to form a gap in the acoustic matching material (1).

Identification of Methylated Cytosine from Archival Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Specimens

Identification of Methylated Cytosine from Archival Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Specimens

Histological investigations on the Tyrolean Ice Man.

The 5,200-year-old Tyrolean Ice Man discovered in 1991 in the Otztal Alps is the world's most ancient known human glacier mummy. Histological investigation was aimed at 1) optimizing specimen preparation and 2) documenting the preservation state of (sub)cellular components. Minute pieces of frozen tissue were removed endoscopically from rib bone and cartilage, major blood vessels, oral cavity and alimentary tract, liver, spleen, diaphragm, respiratory system, femoral muscle and nerve, sympathetic trunk, brain, and skin. Double fixation with glutaraldehyde followed by osmium tetroxide and embedding in Epon/Araldite epoxy resins proved to be the method of choice for both light and transmission electron microscopy combined with classical histochemistry. In particular, mild evacuation of the desiccated tissue was determined to be essential to ensure homogeneous infiltration with fixatives and resins; as a result, sections of excellent quality could be obtained with any kind of sample. With regard to the preservation degree of (sub)cellular components, distinct tissue-specific patterns were observed. There were highly intact skeletal and connective tissues proper, however, most interestingly, there were remarkably intact nervous tissue components as well. By contrast, epithelial, muscle, and reticular connective tissues as well as blood had generally disintegrated due to autolysis, freeze/thaw damage, and adipocere formation. For a tentative interpretation of these patterns, we considered general aspects of cryopreservation, such as physicochemical properties of subcellular constituents and tissue physiology.

Intellectual Work in an Age of Transition

Intellectual Work in an Age of Transition Paul A. Bové (bio) Holly Laird asked the editors who spoke to the CELJ at the MLA meeting in December 1996 to address the problems, frustrations, and pleasures that come with trying to move an established journal into new areas of study, especially as these involve increasingly interdisciplinary work and the necessity to attend to the diversity of literatures and cultures demanding attention. I have found few material reasons for frustration. There are more than enough people eager to publish in these new areas. Sometimes frustration comes from the very nature of such a journal: it’s hard to be timely—we plan in advance, we do special issues, etc. But to deal with the immediately contemporary—this is hard and I have failed in all attempts to do this despite efforts to set aside space for last minute pieces to be included, and so on. Frustration rises at a another level: boundary 2 is edited by a collective and as such it is hard to find agreement on certain matters of intellectual importance. I take it that in what I assume is a transitional age such difficulty is of historical and not merely personal interest. Starting some time around January 1991, I attempted to get the editorial collective to agree on an agenda, on an editorial and publishing policy that would revise and at the same time focus the journal in the areas of new knowledges and new thinkings. I have failed repeatedly in my efforts to achieve consensus. Why is this? I ask not to indict my editorial colleagues—indeed, my best friends are my colleagues—but because I think it worth examining as a problem. In fact, I think Bruce Robbins was in the room on many occasions when I attempted this. (I should tell you that Bruce flies under two covers here: co-editor of Social Text, he is also one of the most valuable members of the boundary 2 advisory board.) Let me give you some idea of what I was trying to do by quoting from a memo I sent to all members of the collective on August 7, 1993: During the last two years, I have been trying to provoke, within boundary 2’s editorial collective, a discussion of the journal’s purpose and direction. I have been contending that we have a unique opportunity to consider the roles a journal rooted in literary, theoretical, and cultural work might carry out in a world vastly different from that in which boundary 2 began twenty years ago and even more different from the world in which literary and critical journals began to emerge and then to become professional. [End Page 455] boundary 2 can, I think, do something of value, namely, try to understand the defining characteristics of our world, its needs and directions, and ways in which intellectuals such as ourselves might pursue our work. Specifically, the collective, with the full participation of the Editorial Board and Advisory Editors, can set up a publishing program to guide the journal in the next five years, identifying areas to be treated, intellectual criteria to be met, and methods of work that establish new sets of relations to other journals, institutions, and individuals. In asking the collective to carry out this rethinking, I have often recalled the earliest days of the journal, when its greatest success came from promoting new work. I have also insisted that we cannot measure the journal’s success in professional academic terms; rather, it must assume the responsibility to think anew the questions provoked by global transformation. Despite considerable support from certain colleagues who made their own valuable additions to my call, we achieved no consensus or agreement on either the value of such a goal nor, obviously, on its likely content. That does not mean boundary 2 did not go on to make many of the changes I asked for. Many I simply made by myself with the cooperation of some others, either through the process of reading submissions or through the addition of new members to the collective. Not quite imitating FDR’s effort to pack the court, I nonetheless looked for...

Effect of temperature on the infectivity of Sarcocystis miescheriana cysts in pork

Sarcocysts of Sarcocystis miescheriana in the thigh muscles of pigs became non-infective to pups after heating infected pork in minute pieces at 60°C for 20 min, 70°C for 15 min and 100°C for 5 min. Similar pieces of infected muscle tissues, when exposed to −4°C for 2 days or −20°C for 1 day, became non-infective to pups. The experiment suggests that pork containing sarcocysts of S. miescheriana, and possibly of S. suihominis, requires cooking at a minimum of 70°C for 15 min or freezing at −4°C for 2 days or −20°C for 1 day for making it safe for consumption.

Localization of phytoalexin accumulation and determination of changes in lignin and carbohydrate composition in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) xylem as a consequence of infection with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. dianthi, by pyrolysis-mass spectrometry

Minute pieces of xylem and other tissues from stems of healthy and fungus-infected plants of two carnation cultivars Novada and Lena were investigated for lignification (lignin/polysaccharide ratios) and lignin composition by means of pyrolysis mass spectrometry and pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry. This technique proved also very effective for the localization of dianthramide phytoalexins which accumulate in carnation after infection withFusarium oxysporum f.sp.dianthi. The composition of healthy tissues from both cultivars was practically the same. In the resistant cultivar Novada, infection induced a change from guaiacyl-syringyl lignin into a mainly guaiacyl lignin in the gum-occluded parts of the xylem. Considerable amounts of the phenolic amide dianthalexin and of other dianthramide phytoalexins were present in occluded xylem, but not in adjacent phloem, medulla or unoccluded xylem. Xylem from susceptible ‘Lena’ suffering degradation was characterized by a loss of syringyl groups from the lignin and by demethylation of pectin in an early stage of infection. Small quantities of dianthalexin and other dianthramide phytoalexins were found in ‘Lena’ when local defense responses (particularly occlusion) had occurred. In both cultivars evidence for degradation of hemicellulose was found.

A Technique for Preparation of Brain Tissue for Combined LM and EM Analysis

Abstract We describe a simplified procedure for processing brain tissue for both light and electron microscopy. High resolution images displaying excellent tissue morphology and sharp contrast in structural components of brain cells were obtained. Sections were cut on a vibrating microtome, processed in the free-floating form, and mounted on Teflon coated slides. The desired area of interest was marked after light microscopic analysis and tracings or photographs were done. The minute piece of tissue was then extracted from the block, reembedded on top of a blank plastic block, cut on an ultramicrotome, and collected on grids for viewing with the electron microscope.The advantages of this method are quick identification of the precise location of the area of interest and permanent slides for further studies. This procedure will enable the researcher to perform a maximum number tests with a minimum of tissue.

The use of specific DNA probes to analyse the Sxr mutation in the mouse

The mouse Y chromosome plays a fundamental role in the control of primary sex determination and fertility. Both genetic and molecular biological evidence has shown that much of the necessary information is contained in a minute piece of the Y (the Sxr region) which has arisen by a duplication of the pericentric region of the normal Y and the transposition of one copy to the distal pseudoautosomal region. The present article describes the isolation of random Y-chromosome probes and their use to investigate this Sxr region at the molecular level. Total mouse Y-chromosome libraries were constructed from flow-sorted material and a Sxr regional library after specific microdissection and cloning. Transcription has been detected in the testis using both Sxr-specific and non Sxr-located genomic probes taken from these libraries. In addition, we have been able to confirm the presence of an active steroid sulphatase gene on the mouse Y. This gene is located in the distal portion of the pseudoautosomal region and is tightly linked to Sxr. Finally, using an Sxr-specific probe we can define multiple Y-chromosome haplotypes in the mouse showing that the region is evolving very rapidly.

Effects of selective alpha 1 and alpha 2 adrenoceptor active drugs on 86Rb+ efflux from pieces of rat parotid gland.

Minute pieces of rat parotid gland were used in studies of adrenergic regulation of K+ efflux using 86Rb+ as a probe for K+. Noradrenaline induced a concentration-dependent RB+ efflux, whereas the beta 1-selective agonist prenalterol was without effect. On the other hand, the beta 2-selective drug, terbutaline, at high concentrations displayed a small enhancement of Rb+-secretion. The selective alpha 1-adrenoceptor drug, phenylephrine, was as potent as noradrenaline, whereas the alpha 2-agonist clonidine had only a small effect. The noradrenaline-induced Rb+-efflux was effectively inhibited in the presence of prazosin, an alpha 1-blocker, whereas the alpha 2-antagonist, yohimbine, was roughly 50 times less potent. The results suggest that catecholamine-induced K+-secretion from the rat parotid gland is mediated via activation of post-synaptic alpha-adrenoceptors of the alpha 1-subtype.